The story so far:-Have been using Xampp 1.6.4 for quite a while and never a single issue with last usage in April10- Tried to use it yesterday and it didn't work, no connection to localhost (control panel says Apache is running). Tried FF, IE8 + Safari. IE8 + Safari display server not - responing after some time, FF is trying for ages without any message. - Deleted xampp and installed new xampp 1.7.3 with the same effect- I noticed that CPU was 100% so activated Win32DisableAcceptEx as suggested (CPU usage down) but still no connect- Disabled Zonealarm and AntiVir and tried again (never an issue before), no connection- Tried 127.0.0.1 same effect- Just for testing I blocked port 80 with skype and started Apache and it didn't start as it should- MySQL server is working and I can use it with other Tools

Any ideas? Please note I'm not too familiar with the internal workings of computers or were to find all the error logs etc.

Cheers

Lots of interest so far but alas no fix. Had a look through the system and here is some more information.

thank for the tip. I checked, Port 80 is free, no skype no IIS. I reckon the 'busy...' part comes during start up and the green 'running' light comes on afterwards. Also I did a check the other way round, kept port 80 busy with skype and tried to start Apache then which didn't work (expected) so port is free.

thanks for the tip. On your suggestion I did a bit of work in that direction but I'm not sure what to look for or whether I've already covered the TCP/IP stack part.

Here is what I did (in that order):- I reset TCP/IP with "netsh int ip reset..." as per MS support webpage instruction. Here is the resetlog:reset SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Dhcp\Parameters\Options\15\RegLocation old REG_MULTI_SZ = SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters\Interfaces\?\DhcpDomain SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\TcpIp\Parameters\DhcpDomain

- Ran MS network diagnostics: system passed the test but for the wireless adapter which I expected as the wireless adapter has been non functional since I dismantled the entire laptop to replace the fan- Ran ping for IP 127.0.0.1 and the laptop IP: both reported no losses and all packets went through

All Browsers still can't connect to localhost when Apache is running. As an afterthought, the progress bar for FF sometimes goes up to approx. 95%, then stalls ( system tries to load the page but nothing more is happening). Does that mean, indicate anything?

My bad on the TCP/IP stack - there is a 'quick-fixer' for it, and I did not give a link - but you did the right thing, and we have dismissed that as a possibilty.

First - have you tried using 127.0.0.1 as the address in your browser, if you haven't tinkered with XAMPP - it should work on EITHER 127.0.0.1 or localhost. If it works on 127.0.0.1 but not as localhost see the next tiem.

Did some work on your suggestions here are the results:- The entry "127.0.0.1 localhost" is there- I tried using hhtp://127.0.0.1, same as always- Just to make sure I haven't accidentally tinkered with xampp I deleted everything and installed it afresh (complete with new download).